Lenox Garden Club to present ‘Beehive of Activity’
Lenox — The Lenox Garden Club will present “Beehive of Activity,” a flower show and exhibits celebrating pollinators, as part of the Garden Club of America (GCA) Zone I Flower show from 2 – 5 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 26, and 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 27 in the Berkshire Room at Cranwell Resort and Spa. The event is free and open to the public.
The flower show is a key part of a meeting of the New England Zone I garden clubs of the GCA. Nearly 75 representatives of the clubs plus GCA officers and national board members will attend the two-day event. The theme “Beehive of Activity” celebrates the western honey bee and aims to raise awareness of issues that affect it such as Varroa mite infestations, colony collapse disorder and insecticides.
Entries in the flower show categories Floral Design, Horticulture, Photography, Botanical Arts and Needlework will be displayed for viewing. The Floral Design category will include modern line, two-sided, abstract, and contemporary designs. Entrants in the Horticulture division will display specimens of specific flowers, foliage or blooming container plants, cactus and orchids. Competitors in the Challenge Class will show examples of plants of bee balm. The Photography class will illustrate pollinators at work, photographs of man-made garden accessories, a still-life featuring honey, and abstract photos of flowers. Botanical Arts entries will include a brooches, necklaces and embellished hair combs made with natural, dried material to create ornaments. The show will also include an exhibit of 70 hand-tinted, glass slides taken between 1918 and 1938 and offering views of the private gardens of Berkshire cottages such as Chesterwood, Naumkeag, Mission House, Bellefontaine, Wheatleigh, High Lawn Farm, Oronoke, Tappan, Elm Court, and Sunnyridge. A conservation exhibit prepared by Lenox Garden Club members and illustrating ways to create responsible, pesticide-free gardens with native plants and garden designs to encourage bees, birds and other pollinators will also be on view.
–E.E.
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LitNet to hold gala honoring local physicians
Stockbridge — The Literacy Network of South Berkshire (LitNet) will hold its 25th anniversary gala on Saturday, Oct. 1, at Berkshire Country Day School. Beginning at 5:30 p.m., guests will enjoy a cocktail hour and silent auction followed by a buffet dinner and dessert by Chef Peter Platt of the Old Inn on the Green. The gala will celebrate the diversity of the Berkshire immigrant community and honor two distinguished members of the hospitalist program at Berkshire Medical Center (BMC): Drs. Tony Makdisi and Sukhpal Mann. Both doctors immigrated to the United States as adults – Dr. Makdisi from Syria and Dr. Mann from India – and will receive LitNet’s Founders of America Award, which recognizes individuals whose strength of character and commitment to service have improved lives in the Berkshires and beyond.
Tony Makdisi, M.D., graduated from medical school at the University of Damascus in 1992. Dr. Makdisi immigrated to America in 2000, received training at New York Methodist Hospital in Brooklyn, and later completed his residency at Conemaugh Valley Memorial Hospital in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. In 2006 Dr. Makdisi was hired to the hospitalist program at BMC and, in 2013, he helped to establish BMC’s first inpatient palliative care consultation service. He now serves as associate program director of the hospitalist program and as chief of the division of palliative care. He and his wife, Fadia, live in Pittsfield and have three children: Helen, Joyce, and Grace.
Sukhpal Mann, M.D., graduated from India’s Armed Forces Medical College in 1987, he served as a captain in the medical corps of the Indian Army and subsequently volunteered as a physician in his hometown of Jalandhar with the Manav Sehyog Society, providing free medical care and education for children and families in need. Dr. Mann later taught physiology at Government Medical College in Chandigarh, before returning to clinical service as a family physician at a rural medical center for the Punjab Civil Medical Services. Dr. Mann and his family immigrated to the United States in 1998, to be closer to his brother-in-law, a business-owner in Stockbridge. After completing his residency at Berkshire Medical Center in 2004, Dr. Mann served as chief resident in internal medicine. In July 2005, Dr. Mann became the first doctor hired under BMC’s hospitalist program and he currently works with patients in the critical care step-down unit. Dr. Mann resides in Dalton with his wife, Rosy, a practitioner of ayurvedic medicine at Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health. They have two children.
Tickets to the gala are $150 – $275. For tickets and more information, see the Berkshire Edge calendar or call LitNet at (413) 243-0471.
–E.E.
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Van Jones to speak at Williams College
Williamstown — Political activist, commentator, author, and attorney Van Jones will present “Green Jobs Not Jails” as the second talk in the Class of ’71 Public Affairs Forum on Inequality on Wednesday, Sept. 28, at 7:30 p.m. on the MainStage of the ’62 Center at Williams College. A reception will follow.
Jones was the main advocate for the Green Jobs Act of 2007, which gave $125 million in funding to establish training programs to address job shortages impairing growth in the environmental sector. In 2009 President Barack Obama appointed Jones as his green jobs advisor, and Jones helped to lead the interagency process that oversaw the multi-billion-dollar investment in skills training and jobs development for green energy industries. Jones is a political contributor for CNN andhas written two New York Times best-selling books: “The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems” (HarperOne, 2009) and “Rebuild the Dream” (Nation Books, 2012). Jones’ awards and honors include the 2008 Global Green USA Community Environmental Leadership Award, the 2009 Hubert H. Humphrey Civil Rights Award, the 2010 NAACP President’s Award, and TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2009.
The talk is free and open to the public, but tickets are required. For more information or to reserve tickets, see the Berkshire Edge calendar or call (413) 597-2425. For building locations on the Williams campus, consult the online map or call the Office of Communications at (413) 597-4277.
–E.E.
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Faculty forum lecture at Simon’s Rock
Great Barrington — The Faculty Forum lecture “Orientalism and Eroticism in 19th-Century Art” will be held on Monday, Sept. 26, at 4:00 p.m. in the Blodgett House at Bard College at Simon’s Rock. During the talk, Professor of Art History Joan DelPlato will read from her new book, “Orientalism, Eroticism and Modern Visuality in Global Cultures.” The talk is free and open to the public.
The book, an edited volume of eight papers written by internationally acclaimed art historians, was published this past spring by Routledge and co-edited with Julie Codell of Arizona State University. DelPlato will use some of the many images in the book to illuminate its themes. Since her first book, “Multiple Wives, Multiple Pleasures: Representing the Harem, 1800-1875” (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2002), was written, DelPlato has noted the changes in scholarly thinking about the intersections of orientalism and eroticism. DelPlato has been a professor of art history at Simon’s Rock since 1987. She earned her B.A. from the University at Buffalo and her M.A. and Ph.D. from UCLA.
–E.E.
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Alford Road, Taconic Avenue road work
Great Barrington — Taconic Avenue is being milled and blacktopped through Friday, Oct. 7, starting from Castle Hill Avenue on Alford Road and continuing to Main Street. Drivers should expect delays and may want to find alternate routes whenever possible. In addition, utility pole work is ongoing throughout the neighboring town of Alford; signs are posted and drivers are asked to proceed safely.
–E.E.
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Zonta Club to hold awards dinner
Valatie, N.Y. — The Zonta Club of the Upper Hudson Valley has announced the winners of its “People Making A Difference” award: Denise Barry of East Chatham, newscaster Benita Zahn, and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. Zonta will host an awards dinner to honor the winners at Winding Brook Country Club on Thursday, Sept. 29 at 6 p.m.
Denise Barry holds a doctorate degree in education and taught special education in the Hudson City School District for 40 years. For the past 28 years she has spent summers as a teacher and/or administrator in local correctional facilities. She is a member of the board of directors of Catholic Charities of Columbia and Greene Counties and is the outreach coordinator at St. James Church in Chatham.
Benita Zahn who holds a doctorate degree in professional studies/bioethics and co-anchors the News Channel 13 Live at 5 and 6 p.m. broadcasts. She co-produces and hosts “Health LINK” on WMHT and writes a weekly column for the “Live Smart” page in the Albany Times Union. Her work has garnered her the Distinguished Communicator Award from American Women in Radio and Television and media awards from the American Cancer Society, the American Lung Association and the American Heart Association.
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has been committed to many causes as she represents New York State including military reform for sexual assault cases, targeting the sexual assault epidemic on college campuses, equality for women in the workplace, and making government more open and transparent.
Tickets must be purchased in advance and are $40 per person. All proceeds from the event will be used to provide an annual Zonta scholarship to local high school students and to support efforts by local domestic violence centers in Columbia and Greene counties. For tickets and more information, contact Irene Waldorf at (518) 392-5515.
–E.E.
